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Thursday, March 11, 2010

A month ago we first talked about the rumor that Batman mastermind Christopher Nolan may take on stewardship of the Superman film franchise (in a producing capacity if not directing). Now he's confirmed not only his own involvement, but also that of Bat-collaborators David Goyer and Nolan's brother Jonah.

Currently readying the Leonard DiCaprio thriller Inception for its summer bow, Nolan recently gave an in-depth interview with the LA Times in which he discusses Superman, Batman, and what's next. As one of the most insightful and unique directors working today, the entire thing is worth a read, but here are some of the highlights.

On the possibility of his Superman and his Batman bumping into each other on-screen:

"Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.”

“I went to the studio with the analogy of ‘I want to cast the way they did in 1978 with Superman, where they had [Marlon]Brando and Glenn Ford and Ned Beatty and all these fantastic actors in even small parts, which was an exotic idea for a superhero movie at the time. It really paid off too. As a kid watching Superman, it seemed enormous and I realized later by looking at it that a lot of that was actually the casting, just having these incredibly talented people and these characterizations. And Marlon Brando is the first guy up playing Superman’s dad. It’s incredible.”

On the next Batman being the lastBatman:

"Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it harkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”

The identity of the next Bat-villain:

“It won’t be Mr. Freeze.”

That last one should prompt a sigh of relief from those still nursing the wounds from the Governator's sojourn in Gotham City. Of course, there's still a lot of yardage to go before anything concretizes around Nolan's take on Superman (or the third Batman, for that matter), but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for any new developments.